This was my Transcon parked outside the Harem Hotel in Istanbul about 1976.
Chris Webb:
Anybody out there remember A.E.Evans Regent Transport Ltd?Grey AEC,s Mk3 and Mk5 8-legger tankers?Main depot was Barkingbut I worked out of Sheffield 1969-1979.First wagon I drove for them was ex Shell-Mex &BP(all second-hand motors here)reg no.TGJ530 MK3 AEC,sliding doors,push-out windscreen,batteries under drivers seat and half-cab bus type swiches at back of cab.Had a 6-speed box though and would trap on a bit,hardly ever used clutch just listened to engine and upped and downed easy,Graduated to a Mk5 bout 1971 REg no 526GYG ex Cawoods fuel oils(where did they go?A rayt flyer as it had rotary fuel pump(Simms)which was rated better than CAV.Remember it was uprated from 24 to 28 ton gross with 8-wheel braking and after loading 4000 galls Vinyl Acetate at BP Chemicals bust a spring 1/2 mile down Hedon Road.Good job only going to Beverley to tip as couldn’t turn steering(Evans took it off when they bought it).
Whilst on BP subject Gilbraiths had a few on contract at BP Saltend and I remember a driver called Wingnut who used to ask" How many lorries does tha know that begin with letter ‘T’?
Favourite answer was Thorneycroft but Wingnut says"Nay,what about t’ERF,t’AEC and t’Atkinson?"
Happy days
do you recall an old mate of mine drove for evans at barking ,jack povey,sadly no longer with us,but a real character.
SUPERCUBE:
Chris Webb:
Anybody out there remember A.E.Evans Regent Transport Ltd?Grey AEC,s Mk3 and Mk5 8-legger tankers?Main depot was Barkingbut I worked out of Sheffield 1969-1979.First wagon I drove for them was ex Shell-Mex &BP(all second-hand motors here)reg no.TGJ530 MK3 AEC,sliding doors,push-out windscreen,batteries under drivers seat and half-cab bus type swiches at back of cab.Had a 6-speed box though and would trap on a bit,hardly ever used clutch just listened to engine and upped and downed easy,Graduated to a Mk5 bout 1971 REg no 526GYG ex Cawoods fuel oils(where did they go?A rayt flyer as it had rotary fuel pump(Simms)which was rated better than CAV.Remember it was uprated from 24 to 28 ton gross with 8-wheel braking and after loading 4000 galls Vinyl Acetate at BP Chemicals bust a spring 1/2 mile down Hedon Road.Good job only going to Beverley to tip as couldn’t turn steering(Evans took it off when they bought it).
Whilst on BP subject Gilbraiths had a few on contract at BP Saltend and I remember a driver called Wingnut who used to ask" How many lorries does tha know that begin with letter ‘T’?
Favourite answer was Thorneycroft but Wingnut says"Nay,what about t’ERF,t’AEC and t’Atkinson?"
Happy daysdo you recall an old mate of mine drove for evans at barking ,jack povey,sadly no longer with us,but a real character.
I remember the name Jack Povey,Supercube but it was a long time ago-I left in 1979.I was at their Sheffield depot and had many a night out in Barking as we sometimes got dragged in to do local South-East work when they were short of drivers.Some real characters in that depot,used to have some good laughs. 
.Did you know any others? I think Evans are long gone,anyone know.There was a pub outside the gate called The Ship and Shovel,I’ll bet that’s gone as well. 
Seeing the mention of an Atkinson Borderer on another post (Design faults) reminded me of the one I saw on the M1 last Friday. Anybody else see it about?
It was a P reg, green (and grimy) and had been converted to a 6 x2 with an extra axle and had a sleeper pod added at the back of the cab and was pulling a tri axle trailer load of girders. I believe it operates from Scunthorpe and the operator has at least one other, as I have also seen them parked in the truckstop near Raglan on the A40/449.
The drivers though must be martyrs to put up with those trucks all day these days.
Anybody else remember those Scammell Highwayman operated by Harrisons of Sheffield until very recently - I saw one on a low loader last week, possibly off to a retirement in preservation?
Calv (in eeeeeeh when I wer a lad mode!)
The scammell highwayman off to retirement on a low loader ?
No way !
It was off to tow a trailer back from a stranded Actros 
( sorry Merc drivers !! )
Also running out of Scunthorpe is an old F88 day cab 6x2.I saw it the other day in Corus with a DHL box on.But I know the Atki you’re talking about,coz I see it regularly on the M62 heading east,at about the Ferrybridge/M18 area.
Ken.
Are Harrisons of Sheffield still running them long nosed camels?
Heart of a lion to drive them 
Flat trailers on steel and probably no heaters. 
We wor that poor we lived in a shoe box in middle o road
Saw a couple of Seddon Atkinsons pulling tri axle trailers on the A483 afew weeks ago.Possibly B/C regs.Sounded very nice with stainless steel exhaust.
Seen some Deutz motors around Norfolk, still in use with a construction company. I see plenty of old 1 and 2 series Scannies still going, the odd F88 and plenty of F10/F12/F16s. They just keep soldiering on, and there must be something in it.
There was an article in the back of a truck mag recently where the guy concerned was still running a 20+ year old F7, and still loving it.
my transport manager has got a atkinson skyline ( a border with a bigger screen) parked up in our yard its his pride and joy taking it to shows …me and another driver were looking at this in horror 
at what its like when t / m came out and said fancy a drive in it ,well we was up for a laugh , with nothing to do …so in we get 5mins later we got it started.then off we go still laughing on how to start it…we were solo bouncing all over the cab and now shouting at each other and still laughing after 10 mins it felt like i had drove 2 hours it was time to swap over. he only being 5 ft nothing could,nt reach the peddals,sayin weres the radio… now i,m hysterical with laughter , eventualy without mishape we got back to the yard with tears rolling down my face the t / m strolls over ,and said by the look on your face,s you enjoyed it,i must admit i take a bow to those blokes who drove them fully loaded day in day out it was dam hard work solo let alone loaded … no wonder my most were tone deaf
A “B” registered left hook 112 passed me on the M1 today. Yellow cab with red drivers door, red tautliner behind, bit shabby looking but doing 65+ and making me look like I was parked up.
i have just had 6 weeks back in old blighty, and have been driving an old f’regd volvo f10, on steel suspension bit of a culture shock as i am used to driving slighty more modern trucks but the look on drivers faces of brand new topline and gobstoppers as my old girl went flying passed was a picture
chris
Sounds like this thread is a plot to drag me back out of the woodwork!
Atkinson Skyline. K&M Hauliers of Nottingham had one back in the 70s(?). I drove it for a week while the regular driver was off. In the days when power steering was rare this had it with a tiny steering wheel to go with it. Felt really strange. As with all Atkis of the time the heater was useless but if the sun blazed through that enormous screen, you fried.
Scammell Highwaymen. Have Harrisons ditched them at last? Apart from a few trips back it’s nearly 5 years since I was in the UK. Sad to see them go, did those blokes get extra money though? Drove one for Ilkeston Haulage in the 60s. 38 mph flat out which is why we used to come down Stainmore in angel gear with whisky from Dumbarton. One mate forgot the tweak at Greta Bridge and blew the whole driveline trying to get it back in. Boss didn’t sack him though. Said ‘You won’t do that again will you?’ Reckoned if he replaced him the new bloke might destroy another wagon. They were cold, noisy, with an awkward gate gear change but, if you could get the hand throttle to work, at that speed you could step over to the passenger seat on the A1 and get the left arm brown!
Atki Borderers. Wonder if the one seen at Scunny was an ex-Econofreight? The Leicester depot (but not Thornaby) had a fleet of those rabbit hutch sleepers. We thought they were the bees knees in those days though.
F88. Now you’re talking. My all time favourite. Well, to be precise I had an 89 but same principle applies. Warm, comfy, easy to drive and even the narrow bunk was no drawback to middle aged, but new, lovers!
Not living on memories, but enjoying from time to time,
Salut, David.
It’s nice to know some of the older lorries like the Borderer are still earning a living, they may not have all the creature comforts of todays luxurious motors, but I bet they’re paid for, turn more heads going up the road and leave the speedlimiter V8 Topline boys standing( On the flat )
I have to admit, Id love to do another run, well a few runs really in a Borderer, theyre a torture chamber on wheels to my mind, but I loved them, and still do. I can only imagine its insanity.
Our gaffer’s just bought an old J-reg Volvo F(eighty something) wrecker to do up and put back on the road 
. I haven’t seen it yet but there’s been jokes a plenty between us drivers about “that’s your new wagon after loosing those pallets of tomatoes last week” gags .
I’ve no idea what it is, but there’s often some white unit with tiny twin front windows and old European looking white trailer parked up at Thurrock services on a night. It’s on foreign plates which don’t give away which country it’s from unfortuntely. I’ve seen it on the A14 near BSE too.
The oldest wagon I’ve ever driven and that’s definitely still on the road is a Merc 1312 (I think?) rigid 4 wheeler old V-reg used by Highways at Ossett on road survey work. It’s got a frame underneath it which drops down and goes in between each of the twin rear tyres and measures how strong the road is and tells the operator whether the road needs replacing or not 
.
No turbo and a backwards 4 over 4 knock across box. What a nightmare. I put up with that for nearly 4 months every day on agency work . Must have been mad .
Jeezzzz Rob ! you stay up late, by my calculations it was around 2,00 am back there when you posted that
Pat Hasler:
Jeezzzz Rob ! you stay up late, by my calculations it was around 2,00 am back there when you posted that
Quite possibly…
untill recently i was driving a old(1983 yreg) merc 1617 , was sheer murder,it had the arse about face gearbox and bounced all over the place,used to do 20mph(iif lucky)up the smallest of gradients…but…ive now got a newer truck 
a 1989 iveco 1315:(…same probs here…on the stretch of m20 leadin northbound to the m26 it only does 35-40 mph…bit of an improvement but still a pain , it does 100kph down hill no probs so ime continualy playing catchup on motorways…
btw…if ya see a blue iveco rigid stormin up behind ya ,overtaking,then slowing to crawl on hills…yup…its me…on the back it has ’ pigeons in transit’…
ps…ime trying to teach the birds to flap in right direction to help me up the hills 
Do you remember R J Norman with those old long nose Macks, I cant remember what model they were but they sounded well at full chat on the A63
And there was nothing better than hearing a TS2 or TS3 screaming and then decoking itself.
W Clifford Watts had some Fodens with this two stroke engine in and the old Commer 2 stroke was a common sound